We did it people. Blake and I got married! We survived a year of wedding planning and made it to the big event. It was truly the most wonderful weekend and I’d do it again tomorrow if I weren’t so broke.
**Disclaimer: This blog is more of a journal entry for me. There are so many things about that day I never want to forget, what better way to keep up with those memories than to jot them down in a blog! I apologize for the excessive details that many of you won’t care about, but this blog is more for my benefit than for my readers. Sorry!
The events kicked off with a 2:00 pm rehearsal in the Circular Garden at the Texas Discovery Gardens. The rehearsal was a dysfunctional situation. I arrived without the listing of who was supposed to walk who down the aisle, which grandparents were seated first, etc etc. (Note to future brides: pack this in your car the day before, saves lost of chaos) Luckily Stacy was there and was able to jump in and make notes as we quickly decided the order again. Then we ran through the order of the ceremony. Then we ran it again. Seeing as how just about everyone had been in a wedding before, I was not really worried about anyone being lost. Our bridal party was full of smart people - I knew they could improvise if necessary. Which proved a helpful skill when during our rehearsal a turtle decided to strut her way down the aisle and join our bridal party for awhile. After about 45 minutes in the hot sun, we decided to move it inside the Grand Hall and run the processional there - just in case it rained on Saturday.
After the rehearsal ended - everyone headed off to shower (did I mention it was 85 and muggy?) and get ready for the rehearsal dinner. Blake and I arrived to the dinner in our usual fashionably late manner and we were greeted by a room full of our family and friends. It wasn’t until this moment that I started to get excited about the entire weekend and all the events to come. (Second Note to future brides: allow time to go from psycho-must-finish-to-do-list mode to excited-i’m-getting-married-tomorrow mode) It was so wonderful to see all of our family and friends. So many people traveled in for our wedding and this dinner gave us to the opportunity to visit with them. It also gave us the opportunity to eat some seriously awesome food. I heart Maggiano’s. The best part of the evening were the toasts offered up to us by our guests. We are so fortunate to be surrounded by such amazing people and during the toasts I felt so honored to have them all in the same room for those few hours. If we could have a rehearsal dinner every week I would totally do it just to be able to spend more time with these great people.
After the dinner, my matron of honor and I headed to a nearby hotel for a night of uninterrupted sleep (and some Will and Grace reruns). I know there are a lot of brides who probably don’t sleep the night before their wedding, but I am not one of those! I treasure my sleep and checking into a hotel no one could find us at allowed for 9 hours of sleep and no phone calls. It was fantastic.
Saturday morning we packed up and went over to my mom’s house to pick up my dress and check in with the family. We managed to finish loading up the dress right before it started to lightly rain. Then it was off to the salon for noon appointments for 3 bridesmaids and myself. My hair took almost 2 hours. Usually I can be pretty patient, but by the end of the time there I was getting antsy to get on the road. Not that leaving any earlier would have fast forwarded the time until the wedding, but it sounded better than sitting in that chair any longer. I have to say though - my hair was amazing. Susan at Lalique Salon really worked hard to make it perfect and to make sure it would stay throughout the wedding and reception.
After the salon, the bridesmaids and my mom all met up at The Magnolia hotel downtown to finish up makeup and so the girls could get dressed. We got there WAY early. We literally sat around for almost 2 hours just talking and munching on some sandwiches and other yummies. Finally about 4:30 I decided to do my makeup. By 5:30 everyone was dressed (except my mom and I) and we were off to the Gardens. Jessica ran in first to be sure Blake was locked away somewhere and didn’t catch a glimpse of me or the dress. I snuck in the back way and stumbled on a building full of people setting up for the wedding. There were people everywhere! I didn’t want to linger too long so I ran back to the bride’s room. Except that everyone kept talking about the cake so I had to sneak back out long enough for a look at it - and yes it was fabulous. After that I hung out in the bride’s room awhile longer. Seriously I allowed for LOTS of extra time in case we were late - probably too much. I finally got dressed about 6:45, Pastor Deb led us in a prayer and then off we went!
I stayed hidden in the back hallway with Christina while the family was seated. Once the groomsman were off down the aisle, we made our way out the side door. Then I was nearly tackled by a wall of bridesmaids who had seen me coming - apparently Blake was still at the back of the garden. Oops! So we convinced a banquet worker to stand in front of me so no one could see me through the glass of the Grand Hall. Then the music changed and the girls headed off down the aisle. Then I saw my dad. He made me cry. It was a happy cry though! Just a short time later we were headed down the aisle and he was giving me away to my future husband. Blake looked so handsome in his tux and I just kept thinking about how lucky I was to be marrying him. Except for a part in the Pastor’s homily, I never really cried. I wasn’t surprised though. I was (and still am) so confident in the decision we made to get married and spend our lives together. After a year of planning a wedding - I was ready for the actual marriage to begin! I was so excited and was filled with too much happiness to waste any minute of that ceremony crying.
After the ceremony we rounded up our families for some formal pictures. This is like herding turtles. (Third Note to future brides: create a listing of the formal pictures you want and include the names of all family members in each picture. Then pass the list out to those people. That way you don’t have to learn how to herd turtles.) After pictures, my sister Kecia, my mom and Stacy all improvised the bustle on my dress (no one could remember how it was really supposed to work), then we were announced into the reception! Blake said a quick thank you to all the guests, then James Petty led us in a beautiful grace before dinner. Blake and I ate at a seperate sweetheart table, complete with what we thought was our own security guard. Turns out he was actually part of the banquet staff Christina had hired to help set up and tear down the reception. He poured our wine and tried to look somewhat scary as he attempted to curve the buffet line away from our table (it is really weird having a line of 150 people watch you eat dinner). Not surprising, Blake and I were too excited to eat much and we were soon on our feet checking out the picture table (I was excited to show off my bridal portraits). Not long after that our DJ read our Love Story, which was hilarious and touching at the same time, then Blake and I busted out our first dance to Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”. I think our dance lessons paid off, because we had no trouble remembering the steps and enjoying our first dance together as a married couple. After that I danced with my dad. He sang all the wrong words to the song, but I loved it anyway. Then Blake and his mom enjoyed a dance, followed by a bridal party dance. The rest of the night is a bit of a blur. We played the Newlywed Game, enjoyed some toasts from our parents and best man and matron of honor, cut a super yummy cake (which we actually got to enjoy some of it the next day), danced excessively, tossed the bouquet and garter, and did our best to enjoy every minute of the celebration. When it was time for the last dance, Blake and I showed off our rhumba skills and then made our exit to our beautiful shoe-polished Jeep Grand Cherokee. That shoe polish made it until about Wednesday of the next week, but we received lots of happy honking while it lasted.
The next day we wandered around downtown for a bit, had some lunch and then made our way to visit a few relatives who were still in town and have dinner with friends. The day after is just as much fun - you get to find out all the details of what happened when you were out dancing or talking. You get all the gossip about which guests enjoyed the bar a bit too much, who had the best dance moves (and the worst), and to just find out if everyone had a good time. From what we have heard, all of our guests enjoyed the evening. One of our goals was to create a wedding celebration that made everyone feel comfortable and happy, maybe even to help them remember their own weddings, and it seems we accomplished that goal and that truly makes Blake and I happy all over again.
Of course, the whole event would have been a disaster without all the help we received from our family and friends. Christina was our day of coordinator and also arranged for the banquet staff that helped out throughout the evening. She resolved problems and made everything happen without having to hunt Blake or I down for answers - this is a huge deal! It was so nice to know that everything would come out perfect and that I didn’t need to worry about any of the day of details. Our friend Stacy was also amazing. A few months before the wedding I turned over the detail of table centerpieces to her. Centerpieces and decor are not really my thing - my computer geek practical self takes over and cannot figure out what to do with flowers and vases and whatever else it involves. We were fortunate to be able to borrow all the glassware we needed, but we needed a plan for what to put in them and Stacy volunteered her time. I have to say I was never worried about how this would come out. Stacy understands what Blake and I like and was able to recreate that with our tiny budget. All of the flowers and centerpieces were beautiful. She highlighted everything with votive candles to add some soft light and it was just perfect. Without Stacy and Christina, it is likely that our guests would have been greeted by a fajita dinner buffet without flatware or plates and a mostly empty room to enjoy it in!
We also had lots of help from everyone in our bridal party and our parents. They helped get us ready for the wedding, the guys helped to deliver all the alcohol (yippee!), and they stuck around at the end of the night to help tear down the reception and get everything loaded up into cars.
Blake and I agree that our wedding was essentially perfect. We made our committment to one another with our family and friends there to witness it and then we were able to spend the evening celebrating that committment with all of those wonderful people. In the end, it was truly the wedding we dreamed of.
Now I leave you with what I feel is the best picture we have seen from the table cameras. Thanks guys!
For more rehearsal dinner pics, visit my Flickr or Zach’s gallery.
For more wedding pictures, mostly from the table camera, visit my Flickr.
